Reviews

The central motif of the hateful asshole ruled by fear of his terrible disease in the role of the secondary-world fantasy man of destiny remains intriguing to the end. It seems like a natural fit for a Narnia clone and could have been much more appealing with sensible ecology and less misogyny. Compare also A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), where Le Guin—in the end—deftly does away with the moral dichotomy in a vivid environment that prefigures the Land.